Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1532181
their phone, but will clearly give pause to sharing it!" For air-gapped installs, SyncDNA is installed on a separate computer that's connected to the public internet. The studio feeds SDI video into a Blackmagic capture box (or similar) and Dante or MADI for audio, and that output feeds the SyncDNA software on the computer. Bailey said, "No major studio is going to let you connect a box that's connected to the public internet to their internal production network. Dom- inic [Castro] put a terrific amount of work into building all of the workflow and tech to do air-gapped installs, so this way it lives outside of the studio's internal network and is completely air-gapped" [that is, has no direct connection to the internet or to any other computer that is connected to the internet, for security reasons]. F o r m i x i n g c o n s o l e s , a i r - g a p r e - q u i re m e n t s a re m e t t h e s a m e w a y b y sending a duplicate set of channels from the stem recorder to an external computer that has SyncDNA installed and is connected to the internet. WHAT'S ON THE HORIZON Decimal releases are incrementally rolling out as engineering efforts continue. The current version of SyncDNA (released in November 2024) is geared toward facil- ity-to-guest or facility-to-facility remote review, but more collaborative technology is on the horizon. "We are working very closely with Avid on their scripting soft- ware development kit (SDK) to allow for adding markers and notes in the DAW time- line in real-time during a SyncDNA session," Bailey said. Another pending addition is one-to-one remote recording. Castro said, "Interest- ingly, we started as a recording platform since that was the initial issue we were trying to solve. However, we realized that f l i p p i n g a ro u n d t h e t ra n s m i ss i o n a n d synchronization engines by 180 degrees would be fantastic for remote playback. We decided to go that route first as demands were a bit higher for remote review during the pandemic. With that need addressed, we're now flipping the engine back around to handle remote recording." This will allow users to record one musi- cian or remote talent directly back into any host DAW with complete sample accuracy. At the same time, remote participants will be getting updates in real-time from the mixer's DAW timeline. Castro explained, "The remote talent doesn't need a DAW on their end. The SyncDNA software can han- dle all of the necessary workflow. It will pick up the microphone that the talent is using, which is connected directly to their comput- er's hardware interface, and transmit that across the internet to the mixer's DAW." SyncDNA is also being used for scoring and mixing an upcoming film. "All of the participants — the scoring mixer, his assis- tant, the music editor, the composer, and eventually the director — are getting copies of SyncDNA," said Lux. Bailey added, "We've had a fully work- ing prototype for over two years where we can do ensemble recordings with musicians or actors , but building the back-end infra- structure, like the security and all of the scaling that makes a platform successful, has been the heavy lift in terms of develop- ment. Now we're into the fun part of slowly taking the pieces from our prototype and adding those to the commercial releases." SYNCED WORKFLOW As development on SyncDNA contin- ues, new uses are emerging. For instance, SyncDNA is being used in broadcast for an NLE and DAW synced workflow. Castro explained, "Instead of exporting new ren- ders of the video timeline, importing those into the DAW, conforming, and then doing a playback session, the editor can capture the video outbound from the NLE and send that directly into SyncDNA, while the audio editor captures the audio from the DAW timeline and sends that into SyncDNA, then the video and the audio departments are working in tandem while they're sending a feed for remote review and approval. It's a very much desired workflow." Bailey added, "They're working on very tight timelines to get content to air. The NLE and DAW are locked together, so everything is available all the time. People on the review side (e.g., showrunners, directors, executives, etc.), can make decisions about video edits and audio edits. They can con- form and cut material out of both timelines. It's all happening in real time. Once produc- ers experience the speed of this workflow, it makes it hard to go back to moving files back and forth offline." On the technology side of the platform, SyncDNA is continuing to expand its fully automated cloud system where everything would be synced all the time between var- ious departments. Bailey said, "As we roll out pieces in our platform, you'll start to see John Bailey. Jonathan Wales. SEE PAGE 53 45 S P R I N G Q 1 I S S U E T E C H